CHAPTER SIX
Justine couldn't stop the trembling in her hands. When she had agreed to work with Eve to get revenge on Angel, she hadn't imagined this was what Eve had in mind. She would never have said yes. Justine had no doubts that Angel would kill over this.
She had no stomach for taking another child. The last time had cost her Daniel and her soul. Now Eve had presented her with Connor's child. If Angel didn't snap her neck, Justine knew Connor would. She wanted a cigarette and a drink. Justine wanted Eve and Ethan gone from her home.
When Wes had set her free, Justine had taken his advice. She got out of the life. First she had run to Utah but thought Connor would know to look for her there so she moved just in case Angel beat it out of the boy. She went someplace small, some where she could hide from it all. She ended up tending bar in Yogi's Den in Hot Springs South Dakota.
It wasn't too bad. Karaoke nights without green demons. Yogi's had darts teams, softballs teams and was haunted by the smells of buffalo burgers, jalapeno poppers and beer. No vampires. The worst she had to contend with were the some times heart breaking alcoholics from the veterans hospital and domiciliary at the top of the hill and the few Lakota imprisoned by genetics and despair.
Sitting back, being normal had been pretty good, a little dull but there was always that nagging fear Angel would find her and pay her back for welding him in that coffin. Eve had offered her a preemptive strike, destroy Angel once and for all. Justine jumped at the chance. If he was gone, she could finally rest easy. Maybe she wouldn't wake up, coated in sweat, shaking from the nightmares, inside her odd little two story home with its sloping floors and ill-fitting walls.
When she picked up Eve and Ethan from the airport, she should have just drove on through without stopping. She should never have brought the tiny terror into her home. Angel's grandchild, she still couldn't wrap her mind around it. She wished she had backed out like her supposed partner in this had done. Lindsey McDonald was supposed to be helping. Justine didn't know him and she wasn't clear on what Eve and Ethan thought they were going to do. Raise the kid in a way that made these agents of evil happy? Justine had no illusions about Eve and Ethan being evil. She knew Eve worked for Wolfram and Hart and knew what they represented.
Justine had dragged herself back from the pit of darkness she had been in, trying to make a life for herself but the lure of hurting Angel had been too great. Now she was smothered in her own maleficence just wishing the child would stop howling. Ethan had cast a spell on Sorcha for traveling, to make her quiet so no one would stop and question them but he refused to do it to make her compliant now. He said it would send out a beacon.
Justine wanted nothing to do with beacons. Angel couldn't find her. She would never survive it. He couldn't get into her home, except she had his kin and didn't doubt the girl would just invite him in if she could. "Sorcha, please, quit crying," she said, exasperated, handing the girl a stuffed white buffalo, hoping to mollify her.
Sorcha shrieked and winged the toy at her. Justine already knew to duck. No one had told her that the child had her daddy's strength. Of course, they never told her that the plan was to kidnap a child and piss Angel off. There were three holes in her living room's walls and blood on the child's torn knuckles from the tantrums she had thrown. Justine didn't know how she was expected to control Sorcha.
She picked up the toy and tossed it back on the couch with Sorcha. "Look, I didn't take you away from your family. I'm trying to be nice to you." She didn't know a damn thing about kids. Did they understand that kind of reasoning? She doubted it.
Sorcha stopped wailing, crossing her arms in front of her chest. Her eyes looked just like her father's, cold and dangerous. Justine had already taken all the knives out of the kitchen and locked them in the trunk of her car just in case.
"Juice time," Ethan said, breezing into the room.
"Don't want it." Sorcha beat her heels against the couch and Justine heard the wood frame protesting the battery.
"Of course you do. You drink up and I'll let you play on the computer. Maybe you can send a note to daddy." Ethan put the juice on the end table and cautiously backed away.
"You hurt Daddy." Justine watched the little girl's lips twist into a good approximation of Connor's usual sneer.
"Daddy's not hurt, sweetie. He just took a time out...on the ceiling." Ethan smirked. "Drink up and you can play with the Tweenies online."
Sorcha took the orange juice and drank some. It didn't take long for her to fall asleep.
"You drugged her!" Justine reached over and felt for a pulse, just to make sure they hadn't killed the poor girl. She didn't want a child to get hurt.
"People have been giving alcohol to their kids for centuries to shut them up." He shrugged a slim shoulder then beaconed her to follow. "I just enhanced the process."
Ethan led her outside to where Howl was tied up. Her border collie was her early warning system. She worked for regular intruders just fine and Justine was counting on her to bark at vampires should any turn up. Eve was lounging on the patio furniture, staring at the red earthen hill behind Justine's house.
"It's ugly here," she said.
"I like it. It's rugged," Justine replied. "And I want you two gone. I had no idea this is what you had in mind. What am I going to do with a little girl? I liked Connor. I never wanted to hurt him."
Eve got up. One of her eyes had ballooned shut, a horrible shade of purple from where Sorcha had punched her. It was Justine's first indication they didn't have a normal child on their hands. "It's a little late now, Justine. You wanted to get back at Angel, well you're getting your chance."
"This deal is already tanked," Justine argued. "The guy you thought was helping me is nowhere to be seen."
"Lindsey losing his nerve was a set back," Eve conceded.
"What do you think I'm going to do with this girl?" Justine stabbed a hand toward the house. "Someone in town is bound to notice I suddenly have a kid."
"You won't be here long. Part of the deal is, you play mommy to her and we set you up somewhere nice, safe and comfy. You can fight. You did a damn good job against vampires even though you aren't a Slayer. You can train this little warrior for us," Eve said and Justine got goose flesh in spite of there being no apparent threat in Eve's words.
"I never said I wanted to be in on a deal that takes years, Eve."
"You never asked, Justine," Eve snapped. "You heard 'screw over Angel' and you signed on without details."
Justine fumed. She knew Eve was right about that. "I can't do this."
"Yeah, we're getting that," Ethan said wryly. "I say you talk to your bosses, Eve, and go with plan B."
Eve shot Ethan a filthy look. "Justine, just be ready to move. We'll have you at the new complex in a few days. You'll love it there. It's practically vampire proof. You have nothing to worry about. The brat's just three years old. They forget their parents pretty quickly at that age. You'll be able to handle her."
Justine knew a dismissal when she heard one. She wanted to know more about plan B but she knew they wouldn't talk to her about it. She went back inside and scooped up the child and the white buffalo toy. She carried Sorcha up the narrow steps to the spare bedroom. The room was obviously designed for a child. The ceiling sloped down on one side of the room so no adult could possible walk upright in it. She put Sorcha in the bed with the toy then proceeded to put a heavy duty collar on her with a strong metal lock. She brushed the girl's curls off her face. "Sorry, baby. You don't deserve this."
Justine crawled into the narrow part of the room where the window was and slowly opened it. She could hear Eve and Ethan talking which was what she was counting on.
"This plan is going to shit, Eve," Ethan said.
"I told the Senior Partners it wouldn't work."
"You could have told them no," Ethan said.
Eve laughed bitterly. "That's not an option for me. I'll see if I can convince them plan B is the only way to do this. Justine's a no-starter. No way am I raising that child for them. They could sell her to any number of agents for a lot of money. They're already getting bids in."
"And the loose ends?" Ethan lit up a cigarette, making Justine's mouth water for one.
"They get tied." Eve smiled, the motion making her swollen eye look worse.
Justine swallowed hard. She had no doubts what that meant. She slid her hand between the mattress and box spring and retrieved the small thin cell phone she had hidden there. Eve had made her turn over all phones but the one in the living room which Justine figured was watched. Eve made Ethan search her every time she tried to take a few steps out of her own house, as if they didn't trust her not to betray them to Angel the moment she had a chance.
She reached down her pants and shoved the phone into her panties, as much as she hated to do it. It was awkward walking back down the stairs with it riding there. Justine was afraid Ethan still might find it because he enjoyed the search process far too much. She stopped and looked at the couple. "I have to get to work."
"My head hurts too much. I'll stay here with the brat," Eve said.
"Fine, whatever." Justine got into her car with Ethan. She knew they would follow her to the bar. They hadn't wanted her to go in to work but she assured them in a town this small, everyone knew her business. It would be suspicious if she suddenly stopped showing up.
She went behind the bar and stuffed a few zip lock baggies they used in the grill to keep the veggies crisp into her pockets. She went to the bathroom, triple bagged the cell phone and dumped it into the back of the toilet tank. She wouldn't have time to call immediately, not without raising suspicions. She went back out. Ethan watched her like a hawk, bitching all the time about the lack of a decent British beer. Finally she took a bathroom break, while he was busy playing darts with a cowboy. She fished the cell phone out of the tank and called the number she had been given. "Hello, Lindsey? We need to talk."
"Who is the guy?" Connor asked as Lindsey walked past him and sat in a chair.
Angel was impressed with Lindsey's ability to remain unflappable in a room full of people ready to kill him. "He's Lindsey McDonald. He used to be a Wolfram and Hart lawyer."
"Great, the last thing we need," Connor grumbled, flexing his fingers.
"I quit more or less. Thanks, in part I guess, to your mother," Lindsey said. "I should have just stayed out of it...would have been better all around."
"You knew Mom?" Connor's eyes slotted. Angel didn't like the curiosity he heard in his son's voice. He didn't want him learning anything from Lindsey.
"She lived with me briefly, when she was human again, for a little while after she became a vampire for the second time," Lindsey said then saw the confusion in Connor's eyes. "Long story, and not the reason I'm here."
"You said you could help," Buffy put in.
"What do you know about this, Lindsey?" Angel stared at him as everyone else gathered around. If Lindsey had any hope of changing his mind and running, it wasn't going to happen. After what he had done to Spike last time, Angel would be surprised if the blond vampire would think twice about killing him. He was entertaining thoughts of that himself.
"Eve approached me with another chance to get back at you, Angel," Lindsey said. "I told her I wasn't interested. I was done with it. After the last time…" Lindsey glared up at Angel. "I let my hatred of you run my life for too long. I should have been happy with getting free of Wolfram and Hart." Lindsey tapped his chest. "But I wasn't. Now, I'm done with letting you live in my head. I turned Eve down. She tried a lot of persuasion but finally I thought she had given up."
"What did she want you to do to me?" Angel stood in front of Lindsey but was disappointed the lawyer seemed less than intimidated.
"She wouldn't say. That alone was enough to make me nervous. I wasn't signing on the dotted line when I didn't even know what I was signing up for. Lindsey drummed his fingers on his thigh. "She told me all I needed to know was that I had to work with this woman and that we'd start off in the mid-west where you weren't likely to look for us and then they'd move us someplace special to complete the mission."
"That's it?" Buffy's face seemed to melt. Willow put a supportive hand on her shoulder.
"She said if I knew more, there was a risk of it getting back to Angel. I told her, if she didn't trust me with the details then I was obviously not the guy to help her. I didn't see what she needed me for or the woman I was supposed to work with. She had that Rayne fellow working with her. The firm had files on him. He's a fairly powerful mage, more powerful than me." Lindsey brushed back his long hair. "She called me last night, gave me one more chance to join up, telling me how much they needed me. She still wouldn't tell me what was going on."
"Then you have nothing that will actually help," Spike growled.
"Not true. When I heard through my contacts that Angel's grandchild had been kidnapped, I knew what Eve had planned. Why she thought I'd be willing to help her and some strangers kidnap a child, I have no idea." Disgust curled Lindsey's lip.
"So you came here out of the goodness of your heart," Angel jeered.
Lindsey's blue eyes flashed cold fire at him. "I don't like people who hurt kids. I helped you, didn't I, to save those blind kids Wolfram and Hart was trying to assassinate? Holland had a co-worker murdered in front of me as an example of what would happen if I continued to help you. If I was willing to risk my life for children I didn't even know, do you really think I'd sit back and do nothing when Darla's grandchild is at risk? Think what you like, I cared about Darla and the things I have to offer are the name of the person Eve wanted me to work with, where she lives and how to get a hold of her."
"You couldn't tell us that first?" Connor snapped, taking a menacing step forward. Buffy stopped him.
Lindsey ignored him. "Justine Cooper. Do you know why this woman wants to get back at you, Angel?"
Angel felt the fire inside him roaring. "Her sister was murdered by vampires. She blames us all."
"She did this to me." Wes stroked the scar on his neck.
"She helped Connor to weld me in a coffin and dump me in the ocean. She's dangerous," Angel said.
"You welded him in a coffin?" Lindsey looked at Connor. "Wish I thought of that. I only ran him over with a truck."
"I didn't know how to drive or I would have done that just to bring him down," Connor said and Angel stared at him, stunned. His son wasn't the least bit apologetic about thinking that. "But Justine was my friend. She wouldn't do this to me."
"She's not your friend, Connor," Angel said. "She has to be the one who killed Holtz."
"Justine old me you did," Connor grumbled, stubbornly.
"I know and I didn't. So if it wasn't me, it was her and he probably asked her to just to mess with your head. She would do this to hurt us, believe me," Angel said, not wanting to waste time arguing with his son.
"I'm not sure she had a clue as to what Eve planned either. I spoke to Justine once, just to see if she knew more than I did," Lindsey said. "She didn't. I still have her number and I know she lives in South Dakota."
"That is the mid-west and we wouldn't have thought to look there," Willow said.
"I didn't think so. I'm not sure if they'll take the girl there but it's a good bet." Lindsey said.
"It's a starting place," Buffy said. "Should you try calling Justine, maybe pretend you've changed your mind and are on board with this now?"
Lindsey nodded. "I had thought about it."
"I'll call Gunn," Wes said. "Tell him we'll need the pilot to arrange a flight plan to South Dakota…um, where in South Dakota."
"Hot Springs. Rapid City would probably be the closest airport then it's not quite a ninety mile drive there." Lindsey saw them all giving him quizzical looks. "I looked it up."
"I'll relay that to Gunn," Wes said, heading for the phone.
"Do you think Eve will hurt my daughter?" Connor's voice was soft and it broke Angel's heart. He knew this fear. He had lived through a kidnapping once already. Buffy's concern for Connor and Sorcha was obvious.
"Yes, I do," Lindsey said bluntly. "If it was necessary, or if it was what the Senior Partners wanted, I think she would. I heard whispers, the Partners wanted your daughter but I have no idea why, other than a powerful being like her would be an asset. Don't think they aren't scheming up ways to get a hold of some of the younger new Slayers." Lindsey paused as Buffy and Willow both looked startled at the idea. "But I also heard talk that they are getting a lot of offers to buy the child."
"What? Why? Who else wants her?" Buffy hauled Lindsey up out of the chair. Angel wished he had dared to do that but he wasn't sure he could stop himself from killing the man.
"Well, the supplicants to the Great Potentate Ul-Thar for one," Lindsey said, still managing to remain cool, even in the face of being shredded at the hands of a Slayer.
"Not them again," Angel groaned.
"Who are they?" Willow gave him a curious look/
"They knew about the prophecy of Connor's birth. They think he's some kind of vampire Messiah or so damn thing. They wanted to rip him out of Darla's belly so they could worship him." Angel saw the horror writing itself onto his son's face.
"I'm what?" Connor's voice cut like a razor.
"They seem to think that his daughter is just as worthy of worship," Lindsey said.
"I should have known I hadn't killed them all," Angel groaned. "Sorry, son. I just thought it would just add to your…confusion if you knew that little detail."
"Gee, why would you think knowing I'm a damn Vampire Jesus would mess me up further?" Angel could see Connor's rage looking for an outlet. He clamped a hand on the young man's shoulder. Connor tried to shrug him off. "What will they do to her?"
"I don't know." Angel let him go, patting his back.
"Whatever it is, it'll be better than some of the other demons making offers. Apparently a few of them think they'll gain some form of power by eating her," Lindsey said and Connor whimpered.
"Maybe your research didn't turn up the fact Connor isn't entirely stable, Lindsey. It's in your best interests not to push him over the edge," Angel warned. "I think it's time to make that call."
Lindsey pulled out his phone then dropped it as it rang suddenly. He scooped it off the floor. "Hello? Oh, slow down I can barely hear you. The reception sucks…well, get out of the ladies room and see if the reception picks up…they're watching you? Okay, okay, I'll shut up and listen," Lindsey said and did just that, grunting a few uh-huh's into the phone as the person on the other line spoke. "Okay, tell them this, tell them I'm reconsidering. Tell Eve I'm on my way to help out. I'll be there in a few hours…yeah, I get that. I'm not without back up…just play it as cool as you can. If it gets too hot, take the kid and run. You have my cell number…what? hang on," Lindsey said as Buffy shoved a piece of paper with two numbers. "Justine, here's two more numbers you can call if you can't get me…I know you're in the ladies room, write it on some damn toilet paper with lipstick or something." Lindsey gave her the numbers twice and hung up.
"They're going to kill her," Angel guessed.
"You heard that?" Lindsey's eyes widened.
"She doesn't want to do this either," Connor said, sounding almost relieved to have his faith in Justine vindicated. Angel would have to have a long talk with him once Sorcha was safe. "They're gonna kill her if she doesn't help."
"We'll be there in a few hours, Connor. We know where they're at now. Ethan can't cast a teleportation spell alone…I don't think." Willow's brow furrowed. "I'm pretty sure not. The best they would do is get another plane out or start driving but they don't know we're on the way."
"Unless they think Justine is lying about Lindsey. She's already told them she wants out," Connor said.
"We're going to think positively about this," Angel said. "Once we get there, even if they're gone, we can track them. As long as Justine is alive, Lindsey can keep in touch with her, string them along until we can find them." He patted his son's shoulder. "At least they aren't in another dimension this time. This is doable. Spike, you help Buffy get the weapons ready. Willow, you and Wes get any magical supplies you might need. Cordy, see if you can get stun guns or tranqs from Gunn, anything we can use from a distance. I don't want to be shooting with anything lethal if Sorcha can be hit."
"Ethan is definitely the type to hide behind a child," Buffy said.
"I'm on it. How about Connor's meds? Could we use any of them?" Cordy asked.
Connor shook his head. "Even the Haldol takes about twenty minutes to really kick in."
"Okay, that's no good. Connor, you make sure Lindsey doesn't go anywhere while I help Spike and Buffy," Angel said. He didn't wait to see if his son would obey. He had to trust Connor was together enough mentally not to do anything stupid. He helped load up a trunk with weapons, wondering how they were going to get it past airport security. Willow put that fear to rest with a spell to make it look like a trunk full of wedding clothes. Their cover story was born. Angel could only hope that the worst case scenario didn't manifest, but this was him and his friend's. Worst case scenarios were written into their genetic code.
Angel had reluctantly gone back to his bedroom, knowing sleep was impossible but he needed it. There was nothing else they could do for the moment. They were still waiting on the plane and it was day light now. They wanted to try and aim to land close to darkness and make the most of their team. That meant Eve and Ethan would have a whole day to kill Justine if they felt like it, or woo her back to them, or just pick up and leave. They couldn't get going any faster. It would take that long for flight plans to be filed and for Gunn to get a plane ready. The non-vampire team members might have gotten there faster but the tickets were over a thousand dollars a piece. It would take them longer to find that much money since no one had credit cards that could handle that much load.
Angel was surprised when Buffy came into the room. Her eyes held the weariness of a hundred years of battle, her limbs trembling slightly from fatigue. He flipped the covers back and she crawled in, cuddling up to him. He let his fingers play over her back. "We'll be on our way soon."
"I know," she mumbled. "I know there's nothing else I can be doing right now."
"That's what I keep telling myself."
Her arms slid around him. "How are you holding up? You've been through this before. You shouldn't have to deal with this much pain again."
"I'm all right, Buffy, as all right as I can be. Like I told Connor, at least she's here, in this dimension. That makes it easier. I never got Connor back. He came back but never to me, until now. I promise you, I'm not letting it happen again," he said, wanting to take all the pain out of her and bury it in himself.
"They're both going to be sorry for this and if Lindsey or Justine are working to double cross us." Buffy's eyes were like flint.
Angel kissed her gently. "You leave that to me, Buffy. I'm the killer and I promise you, I won't hesitate if they give me cause." He kept the "even if they don't" to himself. "Where's Connor?"
"In bed. Willow put him to sleep with a spell. He wouldn't rest. He can't handle this kind of strain, I don't care what he says. He'll be fine by the time we get ready to go," she mumbled, sounding nearly asleep herself.
Angel just let her drift off and followed her through the gates of ivory and horn.
Buffy stared into the swirl of red and lightning. It wormed into her, sickening her worse than standing atop Glory's tower, looking into her realm. This place had a slicker, unhealthier feel. Across the vortex, Angel stared into the abyss, even more horrified than she felt.
She watched as Lindsey tumbled into the sea of red. Feeling acid-washed, she stared at the woman who fell in with him. She looked tired, as worn out as Buffy felt, her lank reddish hair flying behind her. Between them, holding their hands, was Sorcha. Buffy screamed, trying to jump in after them but her feet were rooted. Seeing Angel's struggles, she knew he was likewise stuck.
She saw the demons waiting for them under the garnet sky. The vortex closed like a pupil in bright light. Three heart beats and it opened again, vomiting out Lindsey and the woman with him. They were aged. A scar seamed Lindsey's once handsome face from his hair line, down over his nose, and across his lips pulling them into a permanent scowl on one side. The woman was missing an eye and three fingers on one hand. She held a boy, who was twisted and ugly like he had been given birth to only half done. Behind them a young woman strode out of the redness, haughty and beautiful in the rough leathers she wore. Her body was lean and trim, boyish in form and a proud smile rode on her wide lips. Her long hair was bound up, a warm sun-kissed brown. Her eyes were hard and blue as sapphires.
"Sorcha," Buffy whispered at the same time as Angel.
Buffy sat bolt upright, the sheets sticking to her sweaty body. Tears flowed down her face. She reached over hearing Angel panting beside her. His eyes rolled. "Angel, I had the most horrible dream. Lindsey and Sorcha and a woman I don't know were sucked into this horrible place."
"Quor-Toth," Angel said. "It was Quor-Toth and the woman was Justine."
Buffy pressed a fist to her lips, not wanting him to know what was happening. That meant one thing. "A prophetic dream," she whispered. "A Slayer dream."
"And you brought me into it," Angel said.
It wasn't the first time. Any other time Buffy would rejoice at being so close to him again that they dreamt the same thing but now she felt cold inside. "No wonder they wouldn't tell Justine or Lindsey the plan."
"Wolfram and Hart has found a way back across. It would only take days of our time, Buffy, and Sorcha would be full grown, a warrior for them. They need a strong, dark warrior for their End of Days plans. Neither me nor Connor complied."
"So they're going to make one for themselves." Buffy rolled out of bed. "We should tell the others."
"It's almost time to go anyhow."
They paused to use the restroom, splash water on their faces and Buffy was the one to tell them all the dream. She watched the shock and betrayal registering in Lindsey's eyes and the unadulterated fury in Connor's.
"They can't take my daughter there," Connor said. "Lindsey's here. He isn't going to help them."
"Damn straight. No way am I signing up to go to hell." Lindsey shock his head frantically. "Well...more so than I already have. I, at least, want to be dead first."
"But we are taking Lindsey with us," Willow said. "Your dream didn't show him being a willing participant. What if we lose him in South Dakota?"
"Maybe you should stay here Lindsey," Buffy suggested.
"I'm your only contact. You'll lose too much time if you have to wait for me to act as a go between from here," Lindsey said.
"But why you?" Cordy asked. "What would they want with you?"
"I know some magic. Justine knows how to fight vampires. The Senior Partners probably reasoned Holtz survived it with less going for him. It's a calculated risk," Lindsey said. "And I'll take another by staying with you guys. I'm better protected that way."
Buffy nodded. "Wes, is the plane ready?"
"Within the hour. We could head there now," he replied.
"Let's do it."